George Orwell… where are you?

June 14, 2017

Those of us who read "1984" when it first came out in book form in 1949 never thought that we would indeed see such tracking, snooping and spying as we are all subjected to today. And we now think that it is normal. George Orwell nailed it accurately. We learn daily new and inventive technologies that follow us in bonded fashion each day. Even in our homes we are now followed/tracked by our Smart televisions.

Our cell phones provide ready information as to our whereabouts, our calls and to whom they were made; time and duration is duly noted as well. Listed as GPS tracking devices is a plethora of small pieces of innocuous palm-sized phones, readers and cameras.

In the novel 1984 they are noted as "reality control" devices but in today's jargon they are known as "alternative facts. Winston Smith in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four learned this phrase whilst being interrogated by the story's Inner Party oligarch, O'Brien, who, " warns that "reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else .Whatever the Party holds to be truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party."

Is this what we are experiencing in today's political climate?

Don't bother to look over your shoulder, that laughter you hear is coming from George!